Class Notes: Uzbekistanis visit Lanier Tech

A group of 11 Uzbekistanis, including farmers, businessmen and a representative of the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management recently visited Lanier Technical College to learn about its refrigeration program.

The group was visiting the U.S. to study best practices for growing, harvesting, storing, transporting and selling fruits and vegetables, according to a news release from Lanier Tech.

Lanier Tech is the official ammonia refrigeration training partner of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, which assisted in setting up the visit.

The visit included a tour of Jaemor Farms in Alto, where farm manager Drew Echols explained retail operations, storage and packaging.

According to the news release from Lanier Tech, the group said through an interpreter that the tour provided a lot of beneficial information.

The group also toured RefrigiWear in Dahlonega, which manufactures insulated clothing and packaging material, and Lanier Tech’s refrigeration training operation at the Oakwood campus.

The group toured cold storage facilities and warehouses in Florida and farms in Florida and South Georgia as well during the trip to the U.S.

Former Gainesville Middle principal nominated as education secretary in Pa.

Bill Harner, former principal at Gainesville Middle School, has been nominated as education secretary in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported last week.

Harner was principal at Gainesville and briefly served in a role overseeing the then Gainesville Learning Academy, Phoenix Academy and Gainesville Middle’s transition academy. He left the school system in 2006.

Harner is currently superintendent of the Cumberland Valley School District in Cumberland County, which is among Pennsylvania’s top school districts in income and size, with about 8,000 students. He took that job in 2008. Harner grew up outside Philadelphia.

He will take the new job June 1, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett told the Associated Press, though Harner must be confirmed by the Senate before it is official.

“I was lucky to be in a great district, and in this role I’m going to do my best to make sure every district is a great district,” Harner told the Associated Press.